The Nats are in a seemingly endless search for quality MLB relievers, so every time I see an interesting one, I will write about it. After the disaster against the Phillies, the Nats decided to recall Zak Kent. He has fired two scoreless innings since coming back, and has a unique arsenal I want to talk about.
Kent is one of Paul Toboni’s many waiver claims since taking the job. As we know by now, these claims are dart throws and most of these guys are on waivers for a reason. With Kent, he has been
on the waiver wire multiple times. He was DFA’d by the Twins in late April, and then picked up by the Nats. Kent made a few outings for the Nats in May before being sent down.
As mentioned here, Kent is a Virginia native, and he went to school at VMI. This is a bit of a homecoming for him, so that may add motivation for him. However, staying in the big leagues should be enough motivation. To stay in the big leagues, you need to perform, and that is what Kent has done since coming back.
Zak Kent has a very unique arsenal that could make him a sneaky piece. The biggest thing that stands out with Kent is how much he can spin the baseball. Among pitchers who have thrown at least 100 pitches, Kent has the third highest spin rate on his fastball. He also gets a ton of spin on his slider and curveball.
In my opinion, Kent’s 4-seam fastball is actually more of a hard cutter. If you look at the pitch plot, his heater has a ton of cut and not a lot of ride. Even when you watch the pitch, you can see the ball cutting away from hitters.
His fastball/cutter is not very hard, averaging 92.4 MPH on the season. However, since joining the Nats, his average fastball velocity is up to 93.4. Kent’s slider is over a tick harder as well, and his curveball is almost 3 MPH faster. It is not an arsenal that will overpower hitters, but a 93 MPH cutter is nothing to yawn at.
In my opinion, Kent’s two breaking balls are his best pitches. This season, he has a whiff rate over 35% on both his curve and his slider. Kent is a natural supinator, meaning he gets a lot of natural cut on the ball. That means he can access a lot of different breaking ball shapes. I wonder if the Nats try to add a sweeper here. This year he has one pitch that was listed as a sweeper and had three last year, so it seems like they are trying it out.
Since coming back, Kent has been leaning into those breaking balls. It is only two outings, but he is throwing both his curve and slider over 30% of the time. We have seen Andrew Alvarez have success throwing his fastball, slider and curve in about equal doses, and I think Kent can follow that formula.
I actually found a piece from early 2025 where Kent dove into his arsenal. Interestingly, he did call his fastball a cutter, despite the fact Baseball Savant classifies it as a 4-seamer. There are some cool details about his mix in this piece.
In Kent’s 6 outings with the Nats, his ERA of 4.70 is unremarkable. However, he has a FIP of 3.49 and an xERA of 2.11. Stuff models do not really like Kent’s cut fastball, but they do grade out his breaking balls as above average. His command is nothing special, so those breaking balls are really the key for him.
I do not think Kent will be a dominant closer or even some great high leverage guy. However, I do think he has some interesting traits that could make him a solid big league reliever. Right now, the Nats need as many solid big league relievers as possible. If Kent can provide them with that, he would be a godsend.
He has only made two outings since coming back, but he has put up two zeroes and has not allowed any hits. In this bullpen, it does not take much to rise up the trust ladder. If Zak Kent has a couple more of these types of outings, he will be tasked with closing games before too long. I am not sure how well that would go, but it is great to see a reliever throwing the ball well and doing actually interesting things.
